


Catch Me If You Can

by Asellas



Series: Asellas' Compendium of Ghoul-related drabbles [4]
Category: Ghost (Sweden Band)
Genre: Dew has no chill, Gen, Ghost BC Spring 2020 gift exchange, Ghouls playing children's games does not end well, Not beta'd we die like men, Roughhousing, domestic ghouls
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2020-05-01
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:09:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23947468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Asellas/pseuds/Asellas
Summary: Dewdrop is bored now that they aren't on tour, and ropes Rain into a seemingly innocent game of tag to occupy themselves.My gift for@ciriceartfor the Spring 2020 Gift Exchange!
Series: Asellas' Compendium of Ghoul-related drabbles [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1235831
Comments: 12
Kudos: 37





	Catch Me If You Can

**Author's Note:**

> The prompt was for "something of what the Era IV ghouls get up to in their downtime, whether they're causing trouble or just being domestic and hanging out" and, well, when are the ghouls _not_ causing all kinds of trouble?

“When does the next tour start?”

Rain looks up at Dewdrop, pondering the question for a moment. “I… don’t remember. A few months? We only just got back.”

“Ugh, I’m boooored!” the slender guitarist groans, flopping back onto the ratty couch that he and Swiss had reappropriated from somewhere within the church for their own use. His tail flicks back and forth in agitation, the motion catching Rain’s eye and he watches the appendage intently. The way the long tail twitches, the spade end dragging slowly along the worn cushion is just so  _ enticing _ , inviting Rain to just... Slowly, oh so slowly… muscles coiling, readying for the pounce... 

“Hey, HEY!” Dewdrop shouts, breaking Rain’s concentration and making him give a startled chirp. “Don’t even think about it!”

Rain tries to feign innocence,“t-think about what?”

“I saw you looking at my tail,” the fire ghoul accuses, giving the bassist a warning glare. “You try that and I’ll tie yours into a knot.”

“S-sorry,” Rain mumbles, grabbing his own tail and protectively holding it close. Dewdrop snorts, going back to staring up at the bare ceiling.

“Whaddaya do for fun? Gotta be  _ something _ to do,” he grumbles.

“I like to go swimming,” Rain offers skeptically.

Dew turns his head, eyes narrowing as he looks at the water ghoul. “Do we even have a pool?”

“No… I swim in the lake, usually.”

“The lake? Ugh,” Dew shudders, “there’s mud and snakes and shit in there. And those fucking  _ geese _ …”

Rain snorts a laugh, trying to cover it up with a cough as Dew’s tail snaps threateningly. “I mean, yeah? Where else could I swim at? The pond in the courtyard is too small. And, the geese aren’t  _ that _ bad.”

“Yes, they  _ are _ ,” Dew insists. “One of those fuckers came up and stole my fucking sandwich last time I was out there!” Rain blinks at him, head slowly tilting as he processes the mental image of Dewdrop being mugged by a goose.

“Don’t.” hisses the fire ghoul, pointing at Rain menacingly. Rain bites his lip, trying his best to stifle the laughter that threatens to burst from his chest. He tries shaking his head, doing everything he could to dispel the hilarity of the image in his head.

“Don’t. You.  _ Dare _ !”

“I… I’m not… not gonna…” Unfortunately, the look on Dewdrop’s face is what does Rain in, in the end. The stern set of his brow, the slight baring of fangs… It looks just too much how he’d envisioned him and before he knew it he bursts out in laughter. There’s a momentary look of surprise on Dew’s face, a slight widening of his eyes and parting of lips, that makes Rain laugh even harder.

The fire ghoul snarls and launches himself at his bandmate, trying to grab at his collared shirt and tie. Rain gives a startled chirp, flailing to fend off Dewdrop while still giggling uncontrollably. The more he laughs, however, the angrier Dewdrop gets and the more rough his handling is. It quickly turns to more of a wrestling match than anything, Dewdrop trying to pin Rain to the couch while the water ghoul tries to wriggle away. They end up rolling off the side and thumping onto the hard floor, both ghouls letting out a grunt before they’re back to their antics.

Eventually Dew wins out of sheer perseverance, sitting on Rain’s stomach and holding a wrist in each hand to the ground. A triumphant smile stretches across his face, tail swaying proudly in the air behind him as if brandishing a captured flag.

“Okay, you win,” Rain concedes, “I’m sorry for laughing.” He hopes the apology is enough to soothe Dewdrop’s prickly sense of pride, though in the event that it doesn’t he has a few tricks up his sleeve.

“Good. Now,” Dew says, smug as can be. “I got an idea, if you’re interested.” He releases Rain’s arms and clambers off him, rolling to his feet and stretching his arms over his head.

Rain can’t help but be suspicious; Dewdrop’s ideas typically fell in line with Swiss’s: fun to start with but always ending oh so badly. “An idea? For what?”

“Something to do, so we can stop being bored, duh.” The fire ghoul rolls his eyes, holding a hand out to Rain and helping him up onto his feet. The bassist brushes dust off of his slacks and shirt, pulling at his tie to straighten it back up.

“Alright, what is it?”

“You ever play tag in your village, growing up?”

Rain cocks his head, looking thoughtful. “Tag? Yeah, I think everyone’s tribe played tag. Ours was in the lake, though sometimes we ran out into the rice paddies or fields.”

“So, how about it? Wanna have a game?” Dewdrop grins, bouncing on the balls of his feet in anticipation.

The water ghoul pauses, debating the pros and cons of engaging in a physical game with Dewdrop.  _ It’s normally a good-natured game, so he can’t make too much mischief, right? _ “Okay, sure. Who goes first?” Rain agrees, stretching his arms out.

“Great!” Dew’s grin widens even further, eyes sparkling in glee. “I’ll give you a count of… lets say, ten, before I start chasing. Sound good?”

“Sure.” Rain nods, waiting till Dewdrop begins his count before dashing for the door, using his tail to pull it shut behind him. The hallway in this section of the church was long and narrow, and unfortunately Rain isn’t even halfway to the end before he hears the door open then slam shut behind him, footsteps clattering on the stone floor as Dewdrop begins his chase.

Knowing he had to evade the pursuer chasing at his heels awakens a primal sense of terror within the water ghoul. His tribe’s reflexes tended more to flight than fight when it was possible, and even though he knows it’s a game, that it’s just Dewdrop running after him, does little to quell the tightening in his chest as panic fuels him. He ducks around corners, long legs speeding him down the hallways and keeping the smaller ghoul a good ways behind, but his advantage in height did not overcome Dewdrop’s extremely competitive nature. Every time the water ghoul would throw a glance over his shoulder as he’d grab a corner and push himself along the fire ghoul was closer and closer. Deciding to change tactics, Rain barges into the first door he comes to, letting him inside one of the smaller libraries that was, thankfully, deserted.

There’s rows of long tables set with chairs through the middle of the room, with the bookshelves lining the walls; it made the room seem to have a ladder-like layout. Expecting Dew to be right on his heels he vaults over the first table then onto the second and leaps from tabletop to tabletop. The last table, however, was placed vertically and Rain takes a risk. Instead of jumping on top of the table he instead falls into a slide, going underneath it. Luckily he had enough momentum to slide the entire length of the table and as he pushes himself to his feet he grabs the end of the table and heaves the heavy wooden furniture forward.

It slides a couple of feet with a sharp screech, just as Dewdrop leaps forward to land on the top of it. Unfortunately for him, the table was no longer where he calculated it to be, and instead the fire ghoul lands on one of the chairs, that tips over and sends him crashing into a few others. Rain hears him give an indignant shriek as he bolts out the other door, hoping that had given him enough time to hide from Dewdrop. He scurries down the hall and slips into a supply closet. There’s just enough room behind a shelf for him to squeeze into, hiding behind some old curtains and dust mops that should keep him hidden. Plus, the scent of cleaners would keep Dewdrop from sniffing him out…

He hopes.

And waits.

And waits.

And waits some more.

Then sneezes.

Rain jerks, eyes wide as he slaps his hands over the front of his mask, ears tuned to listen for the sound of footsteps and the door opening.

Silence.

After a moment he lets out his held breath slowly, shoulders sagging in relief. He checks his phone, noting he’d been in the closet a good ten minutes at this point. He extracts himself from the closet, cracking the door a tiny bit to peek out into the hall. It seems deserted and he slowly inched his way out, looking from side to side as he straightened his tie and brushed dust from his tailed coat.

“Well, that worked pretty well,” Rain murmurs to himself, walking down to the intersection at the end of the hallway. He keeps his ears peeled for signs of Dewdrop, knowing the fire ghoul would be easier to hear before he saw him. It seems as if he’s given his bandmate the slip, finding no sign of him as he heads further into the church. It was almost lunch time by now so Rain decides to head to the communal dining room, joining some of the other water ghouls for companionship while he eats, though still keeping his senses tuned should Dewdrop make an appearance.

_ I’ve won, I believe it’s safe to say,  _ Rain thinks to himself, crunching through his plate of french fries happily.

* * *

“Stupid fucking chairs,” Dewdrop spits, kicking the closest one to him hard enough to break one of the legs with a loud crack. “Gonna have bruises all over, fuck!” As he stomps the offending piece of furniture into smithereens, he does have to admit that Rain got him good that time. Always one to give credit where credit was due, if grudgingly at times, Dewdrop was honestly surprised at the bassist’s quick thinking. No doubt he’d have slipped off somewhere with the time he’d gained, meaning Dewdrop wasn’t in any particular rush at the moment.

_ No point wasting energy running when you don’t even know where he is now. _

Finally, he’s broken the chair down into a pile of splintered wood and feels a small bit of satisfaction. Brushing off his hands the fire ghoul leaves the room and starts down the hall, idly trying to decide where he should look for Rain next. Just as he’s about to turn around a corner he hears a scream from the room he just emerged from and peers over his shoulder.

“What in Satan’s name has happened to my library?!” Shrieks a sister of sin in outrage. Dewdrop gulps and scampers away before he could be seen, not wanting to get lectured for destroying that chair and knocking all that furniture askew. He slips through a door out into one of the courtyards, looking around to see if perhaps Rain was hiding in the bushes. There was neither sight nor scent of the water ghoul here and Dew gave a grumpy sigh.

“Where the fuck did he run off to,” he mutters, kicking at a rock in the pathway. He traverses the length of the courtyard as he thinks, stopping when he hears the church bells start to toll the hour.  _ Noon, time for lunch. He’ll have to come out to eat; if there’s one thing Rain doesn’t miss, it’s a meal _ . Grinning to himself, Dew jogs back inside, heading back to the band ghoul’s quarters.

He finds the common room empty, as well as the dining room and kitchen. Grumping to himself he decides to give Rain some time to come back, busying himself with getting his own lunch since he was here. He sits at the empty dining room table and eats a sandwich and some chips he’d scrounged up, unable to keep himself from constantly checking his phone and looking at the time.  _ Where is he? Rain never skips lunch… _

An hour later with no sign of the water ghoul Dewdrop snarls, throwing the balled up empty chip bag at the trash can. It glances the rim and falls to the floor and he glares at it, as if that would make Rain walk through the door. It, of course, does not work.

“Fuck!” Dew growls, crossing his arms over his chest. He looks at his phone again, sighing when he sees the time, stomping his foot in irritation. “Damnit, we’ve gotta go to practice this afternoon, not much time left…”

And just like that, an epiphany dawns on him.  _ Practice. We all have to attend. Rain will be there. I can still get him! _

Dewdrop rubs his hands together, grinning to himself as he runs off to the practice rooms, poking his head through the door and taking a quick look around to see if perhaps the bassist was already there. It was still empty so he slipped inside, hovering by the rack of instruments as he waited for the others to join him. Not wanting to just stand around he tunes his guitar, then Aether’s because he was nice. Then Rain’s bass, because again, he’s  _ nice _ , and even Swiss’s baritone guitar. And then the acoustic guitars, because where the fuck was everyone already?!

Dewdrop is eyeing the ghoulette’s keyboards from across the room when the rest of the band start filing in, saving him from the mistake of poking at them and potentially getting murdered in the process. Nearly vibrating with expectant energy he stays against the wall behind the door, waiting for Rain to finally show up. When the water ghoul finally does come in, heading straight for his bass, Dewdrop pushes off the wall and flexes his legs. He springs forward just as Rain turns around when Swiss calls his name, noticing at the last minute the flurry of motion from the corner of his vision. Rain squeaks and cringes, having nowhere to run now with the instruments all around him and not wanting to break anything.

At first Rain thought Dew was going to tackle him, or at the very least punch him. Wrestle him to the ground maybe, as he’s always fond of doing. But instead nothing topples him over or hits him so Rain cautiously opens his eyes, blinking in confusion as he finds Dew right in front of him, leaning forward. The fire ghoul reaches out then quickly taps the tip of Rain’s masked nose.

“Tag. You’re it,” Dewdrop purrs, grinning in satisfaction. Rain’s knees nearly buckle as the tension drains out of him with a sigh; now he had to deal with a smug Dewdrop through the entire practice session.

* * *

_ I’m going to get him back, and I’m gonna get him good, _ Rain thinks to himself, constantly slipping Dewdrop looks through practice and dinner, letting the shorter ghoul know that this game wasn’t done just yet. Dew would just smirk back at him, tail arcing up and waving in the air like some kind of flag. It definitely ignited the small spark of competitiveness that Rain had, and he was bound and determined to win this game.

One way or the other.

Unfortunately, it would have to be after he finishes doing the dishes.  _ Why can’t we have one of those machine dishwashers that the humans have? _ He grumbles to himself as he wiggles his fingers over the sink full of sudsy water, swirling the water around vigorously.  _ Just because I  _ **_can_ ** _ do this doesn’t mean I  _ **_want_ ** _ to… _ Rain sighs, trying to keep an eye on Dew as he squabbles with Swiss and Mountain over a video game, trying his best to get the dishes done quick as he could without breaking them. Finally, when the last plate is placed in the cupboard and Rain is drying off his hands, Dew turns to him and they lock eyes. An unspoken signal is passed between the two ghouls before Dew flings himself off the couch and bolts out the door, running flat out to gain as much of a lead as he could.

“What the actual fuck?!” Swiss yelps, falling back onto Mountain’s lap in the wake of Dew’s impromptu escape.

“We’re just playing tag, don’t worry!” Rain calls back over his shoulder as he races to catch up to Dewdrop, the door to their rooms slamming shut behind him. Unfortunately, despite his longer stride Dewdrop was faster, already out of the hallway and running off Lucifer-knows-where. Rain tries his best to catch up, trying to think of which way the fire ghoul would have gone and picking his course accordingly, but after the first few minutes of frantic running and looking he comes to the realization that Dewdrop had gotten away from him. Rain slows down, panting softly as he grumbles, “damn it… gonna have to look for him…”

The bassist takes his time wandering through the halls, looking furtively around corners and into rooms for signs of Dewdrop. Just as he’s about to give up, however, he notices a familiar thin silhouette standing at a cross section of two hallways, attention focused on something Rain can’t see. Grinning to himself, Rain creeps toward him slowly, doing everything he could not to attract Dew’s attention. His focus is so intent on their game that Rain doesn’t hear the annoyed snap of Papa II’s voice as he berates the shorter ghoul. With only a couple of yards of space between them Rain lunges forward, arm pulling back then slapping Dew hard across his ass.

“TAG! You’re it!” Rain chirps, Dewdrop yelping and jumping away from him, losing his balance in the process and crashing into Papa. That’s when Rain notices the skull-faced antipope, a surprised look on his face that quickly contorts into an angry snarl as he shoves Dewdrop away from him.

“GHOUL!” Papa yells and Rain blanches, turning tail and running away faster than he’s ever run in his entire life. The first balcony he finds he vaults over, not even thinking of which floor he was on nor what was beneath him before jumping. Rain realizes his error a moment after clearing the stone railing, panic flooding him for a brief moment before he sees the pond beneath him. His relief is short-lived, however, as he lands on the water in a perfect bellyflop, hitting the surface as hard as if it were regular concrete.

* * *

“Really, I did not think this ever had to be said,” Copia sighs, glaring in irritation at the two ghouls in front of him. Rain was sodden, dripping water onto the floor and holding onto his stomach, while Dewdrop shifted uneasily from foot to foot, hands twitching with the need to rub his sore behind. “No more running inside the church, is that clear? Both of you?”

The two ghoul nod glumly, shuffling out of the Cardinal’s office once dismissed.

“...I won, though,” Rain points out, feet squishing and squelching in his soaked shoes as they walked.

“Bullshit!” Dewdrop snarls back, baring his teeth. He rubs at his ass gently, wincing, “besides, you didn’t have to hit me  _ that _ hard. I didn’t hit you!”

“It was an accident,” whines the water ghoul. “And yes, I did win. The game is over and I tagged you last. That means I win.”

Dewdrop growls, “I’ll show you who won!”, then pounces on top of the water ghoul. Rain chirps as they fall to the floor, rolling around and squirming as Dew attempts to wrestle him into submission.

Back in his office, Copia pinches the bridge of his nose, sighing in irritation. “Why can’t they just… play a board game or something, like regular adults…”

**Author's Note:**

> This very nearly ended in porn, but I forced myself to keep it nice and PG-rated for once in my life. Thank you for all comments and kudos!!! 💙💙💙


End file.
